Margarita

The LGBT film festival hit "Margarita" has come to DVD, perhaps its perfect home: What this picture lacks in theatrical scope is more than made up for by its intensely likable, friendly, and eminently rewatchable energies.

This Canadian picture follows the titular female, an undocumented Mexican individual working illegally as a housekeeper. The family she works with adores her, as does her girlfriend, and the smoldering Ricardo, who works across the street. Everything’s going great for Margarita -- and then the economy crashes.

The family is forced to let her go, setting off a never-ending series of unfortunate events. The family’s daughter, searching for any way to rebel against her bourgeois existence, violently turns against her family, protesting her longtime nanny’s dismissal. Complications are caused between Margarita and her law-student girlfriend. And, of course, the authorities come calling to ship her back to her home country.

The rom-com style wrap-up precludes the film from reaching any heights of interest or profundity. However, Nicola Correia Damude’s performance as the title character keeps the movie rolling even through its most sub-standard moments of plotting. She brings warmth and naturalness to every moment, transcending the Lifetime-style plot twist to imbue the film with a sense of legitimate honesty.

There are no extra features included with the disc, but the film doesn’t really demand anything. Far more interesting than behind-the-scenes insights is the way that the characters relate to each other, and the relaxed calm that each actor brings to his interactions. The film may be small-scale, the plot relatively rote, and the dialogue standard; but the humanist energy expelled by the cast is impossible to ignore.

A non-sentimental meditation on taking life as it comes in the shadow of a loved one’s loss, Drew Denny’s feature film debut is a buddy movie for girls and a celebration of friendship that takes place across a vista of the gorgeous Southwest.